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61-68, ISSN: 2455-474X

Linguistic Landscape and Gender Discrimination: A Study on

Gender Biasness in School Curriculum
Sana Hashmi
Advance Central for Women's Studies, AMU, Aligarh
&
Mehvish Mohsin
Department of Linguistics, AMU, Aligarh
Abstract
Gender discrimination is one of the serious issues in todays world. The predominant literature on the
subject of gender has succeeded in portraying women as the target of such types of discrimination. It
can be seen everywhere in the society be it public or private sphere. In fact, school is one of the
important agents of gender socialization which plays a significant role in shaping the gender roles of
school children. Thus, the practice and promotion of gender discrimination in school curriculum and
textbooks through projection of gender biased roles and professions both in the public and private
spheres have severe consequences in the society at large. It negatively encourages both girls and boys
to take up the stereotypical positions constructed for them by these teaching aids. In this context, the
study critically examines and analyzes the pictures and the language shown in the posters and charts
that have been used in schools as one of the important teaching aids for centuries. The posters, charts
and the other teaching materials both in Hindi and English medium were selected and reviewed for
the study. Identifying gender biased language, gender stereotyping and construction of gender roles
are central to the study. The study observes that still the existing new teaching aids are showing
gender inequalities. Thus, the study suggests that a gender inclusive curriculum is the need of present
era in order to shape and promote positive gender socialization, which advocates gender equality.
Keywords: Linguistic landscape, Gender discrimination, Gender equality, Textbooks and curriculum.
1. Introduction
Sign,sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin out the scenery, breakin my mind
Do this, dont do that, cant you read the sign?
Signs the five man electrical band (1971)
The linguistic landscape is around us all the time, it is an attention to language. We can see language
signs on the streets, in the countryside, in hospitals, at schools, in indoor markets, in the offices of
governments, on moving buses etc. These words and images displayed and exposed in public spaces
are the center of attention in the rapidly growing area referred to as Linguistic Landscape (Shohamy
and Gorter, 2009). Visual images are always treated as a kind of decoration and indeed they are. It has
been proven that the text that have only written material and no pictures or diagrams seem to be
boring in comparison to those having attractive pictures and the use of eye catching sceneries with
fine use of colours. That is the reason why the posters and the textbooks of the schools children are
always attractive and colourful. These teaching aids are the powerful tools that are used as means
through which children learn their culture and heritage. According to Dorthy Smith, textbooks are the
essential medium of power that shapes the ways in which children think about the society as well as
about themselves (Smith, 1987). Textbooks and the posters constitutes significant component of the
school curriculum. School is the social institution of learning; it shapes the thought process and plays
a significant role in gender socialization by reinforcing the traditional values and norms of the society
through various teaching learning practices.
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Modern teaching aids are introducing day by day to flourish the teaching process. But the pictures
lying on the walls of the schools have always been an integral part of learning process. These are
being used from the last many centuries and are going to be used for many more. These pictures and
sceneries seem to be attractive and captive and leave a long lasting impression on the young minds.
Indeed, these pictures help the teachers and parents to educate their children in a perfect manner but
many times we find that some kind of hidden messages are also transferring to the young minds of the
learners through these pictures, the way these pictures are design and the way these are using the
portrayal of women. Young children are bombarded daily with language and images that influence
their formation of gender roles (Narahara, 1998). The portrayal of women in these pictures as well as
in the pictures that are there in textbooks plays a significant role in the social construct of gender.
Sadker and Zittleman asserts that students spend as much as 80 to 90 percent of classroom time using
textbooks as well as teachers take a majority of their decisions based on the textbooks (Sadker and
Zittleman, 2007).
Picture representation serves as an important medium where the social realities are created from a
certain aspect, through the knowledge and values that are included and excluded in accordance with
the patriarchal norms. These pictures are shown to strengthen the traditional values regarding gender
roles where we find men as active, outgoing, adventurous and bread winners while women as weak,
passive, docile and housewife roles that need to be protected and taken care of by the able men. The
World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995 Platform for Action, Chapter 4, Section B, paraa.69-79,
in particular paragraph 74) says that curricula and teaching materials remain gender biased to a large
degree, and are rarely sensitive to the specific needs of girls and women. This reinforces traditional
female and male roles that deny women opportunities for full and equal partnership in society. Lack
of gender awareness by educators at all levels strengthens existing inequalities between males and
females by reinforcing discriminatory tendencies and undermining girls, self-esteem (United Nations
Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, Promoting Gender Equality in Text Books: A
Methodological Guide, 2009). Initially the issue of gender bias in school textbooks was investigated
in 1970s/1980s by Western Second Wave feminists using content analysis approach (Weitzman,
Deborah, Elizabeth and Catherina, 1972). The main focus in content analysis approach involves the
qualification of images and activities: it was to see how many men/boys were there in relation to
women/girls, what roles they were portrayal in and terminology used to speak about males and
females (Skelton, 2006).
2. Benefits for Using Posters as a Teaching Aid
Words that are linked to the pictures help students to grasp and remember new concepts.
Posters are fantastic, independent learning aid.
Posters are more than decoration, they provide valuable information.
Student who can visualize, respond better in the classroom.
About one third of all students in an average class learn through visualization.
Posters help to keep students engage which assists in students, educational growth.
3. Objectives
This paper has been written keeping the following objectives in mind-
To examine the pictures and quotations, that are being used in school curricula, from a gender
perspectives.
To show how gender inequalities are being constructed in these pictures.
To represent that how these teaching aids are transferring a gender biased message to the
young minds.
4. Methodology
The researched places for the present study are various schools in Uttar Pradesh region. When we are
talking about Methodology, Linguistic landscape relies on photography and visual analysis. The
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core data for the present study was collected through photography. There is no denying the fact that
the recent developments in the field of digital camera technology make the study of the linguistic
landscape possible at a relatively low cost of course, photography exists already over 150 years but it
was very expensive to take large quantities of colour pictures until just few years back. But with the
advancement of technology to store those pictures is no longer a problem with low cost storage
devices.
The researchers took a total of 120 pictures of every visible poster in the school premises and
examined them from linguistic as well as from gender perspectives. In addition the language used in
the textbooks as well as the posters lying on the walls in school premises was analyzed from gender
perspectives. And the researchers came across the interesting results.
5. Findings
During their survey the researcher came across the interesting results. The most striking findings of
the study are presented below-:
5.1. Depiction of Gender Biased Language
During the data collection process the researchers found that the language of these posters favours a
particular gender over another. The data was collected from the English medium school of Uttar
Pradesh district. So, the researchers found that in case of English the preference is given to masculine
over feminine [see figures 1, 2, 3 and 4]
Whenever a singular referent is required and we are not aware with the gender of the person we are
talking about, we use masculine pronouns (he, his, him, and himself). According to a survey done by
Esen in 2007, the number of gender specific pronouns counted was considerably higher than the
number of those referring to females.
Similarly, while analyzing the language of textbooks, Pasco found that HE occurs there times more
than SHE in school textbooks (Sunderland, 1994).
5.2. Depiction of Gender Biased Jobs/ Professions
In these schools the researcher found that there is gender segregation in the job, associated to men and
women. Professions like doctor, police, postman, headmaster etc are presented by masculine
characters, whereas the job of nurse or teacher is exclusively represented by feminine characters. The
following pictures depicted that some jobs are appropriate for one sex while some of others [see
figures 5, 6 and 7].
The male figure are seen outside the house performing professional tasks at a place to which we can
call a workplace. While the female figure is portrayal doing indoor tasks, doing something with child,
doing domestic responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes etc. Always a male figure
is displayed in the role of a manager or a decision maker and not a female.
There is a poem named Everybody Has a Duty it says mum cooks the meals, I taste it, dad goes to
work and I play games all day. The poem delivers a message that has a great conflict. It directly and
clearly reflects the gender bias labor distribution.
5.3 Depiction of Gender Biased Sports
It was also analyzed that when we are dealing with different sports certain spaces are reserved for
certain gender. Sports like cricket, hockey, chess, swimming etc are allotted to the male characters
and female are shown as unable to do these activities [see figures 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12]. In words of
Liddle- in contests involving strengths, speed and reactive ability, women are nowhere near as good
as men (Rod Liddle, 2012).
Similarly,

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so, Kuper baited me: the top women can not take on the top men. He continued by making
assertions like: women are slower than men; women are weaker than men- Jennifer Doyle (speaking
with sports writer Simon Kuper), reported on her blog (The sport spectacle, 2014).
The analysis reveals the fact that particular gender is used to particular sport represent. Gender
segregation is there in the field of sports also.
6. Conclusion
In the present scenario we are expecting gender integration almost everywhere at workplace, in social
spaces and the others. But it is just the expectations because we find gender segregation in every
sphere of life whether its a matter of profession, sports or anything else. There is an urgent need of
gender inclusion in the society. A sense of gender equality should be developed from the very first
stage i.e. the home itself and also the schools. The teaching materials should be reviewed from the
gender point of view.
References
1. Esen, Y. (2007); Sexism in School Textbooks Prepared under Education Reform in Turkey,
Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 5:109.
2. Landry, R. and Richard, Y. (1971); Linguistic Landscape and Ethnolinguistic Vitality: an
Empirical Study, Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 16(1): 23-49.
3. Narahara, Mary, M. (1998); Gender Stereotypes in Childrens Pictures Books
(Raziskovalnoporocilo), Long Beach: University of California.
4. Sadker, D. and Zittleman, K. (2007); Gender Bias from Colonial America to Todays
Classrooms, Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, edited by James Banks and
Cherry A McGee Banks, Hoboke, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
5. Shohamy, E. and Gorter, D. (eds.), (2009), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scener. New
York and London: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.
6. Skelton, C. (2011). Boys and Girls in the Elementary Schools. In Skelton, C., B. Francis
and L. Smulyan (eds.). Gender and Education. London: Sage.
7. Smith, D. (1987). The Everyday World As Problematic: A Feminist Sociology. Boston:
Northeastern University Press.
8. Sunderland, J. (1994). Introduction. In J. Sunderland (ed.). Exploring Gender. London:
Prentice Hall.
9. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, (2009), Promoting Gender
Equality in Textbooks: A Methodological Guide.
10. Weitzman, L., e. Deborah, h. Elizabeth and R. Catherine. (1972). Sex Role Socialization in
Picture Books for Preschool Children. American Journal of Sociology, 77:1125-1150.
Figures:

Figure-1.

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Figure-2.

Figure-3.

Figure-4.

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Figure-5.

Figure-6.

Figure-7.
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Figure-8.

Figure-9.

Figure-10.

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Figure-11.

Figure-12.

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